Running away from Life
What are you going do this weekend? Remain enslaved to the concrete-and-steel worlds of malls,multiplexes and the monotomous? Well, if you live by the coast,how about escaping to the sea instead?
To sail away into the surreal sunset,with the wind in your hair,feeling the crispiness of the salty sea and feel the tension in your body and the noises in your head melt away into the sea waters!
And if you are seeking an adventure, you could join a race,feel the adrenaline rush as your yacht picks up speed and meets the swell of the waves,feel the thrill of the waters cuttings through to deliver a perfect maneuver. Take your pick from pleasure sailing on one end to racing on the other or anything between !
Fortunately,sailing is a pretty accessible and affordable sport with almost no prerequisites of age or physical fitness. “Its’ a complete sport-cerebal and physical,” says ace Yachtsman Madhavan Thirumalai,who competed in the Asian Games and trained for the US Olympics. He further explains,” Like chess it requires tactical moves, like golf it needs strategy and there are elements of teamwork and it requires stamina as in football”. Meet the sailing fraternity, the veterans or the novices and they will tell you in a chorus,”It’s exhilarating,come try it!”because they know you can’t help falling in love with it.
Then why, you’ll ask,is sailing so low profile? “Well,India has never been a seafaring nation. Parents often forbid children from taking part in water sports,”explains Ashish,a dynamic youngman, who was recently lured into sailing on a business trip to the city of Sails-Auckland,New Zealand.
India, with its long beautiful stretch of coastline ,warm weather conditions,steady wind patterns is highly enviable compared to other well known sailing destinations like New Zealand,UK and the US. “Wearing bermudas and t-shirt out there is unthinkable. You would have to don a heavy uncomfortable gear-a wetsuit,gloves and a headgear. Add to that the fact you would need to be an ace sailor to deal with nasty,changing wind directions,wind speeds and freezing temperatures,”says Shakeel,a 33 year-old lawyer and the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Asian Championship for sailing.
We are lucky then,cruising here on a sunny,breezy day - almost a year roud possibility. A bit sad though,we haven’t recognised our complete potential till date-something the Portuguese and the British did years ago! The Britis set up the the sailing infrastructure and harnessed the potential of the Bombay Harbor for trade well.
While India has advanced since then,it has not quite kept pace with New Zealand,UK,Australia and other sailing hubs. However,the legacy and charm of old time sailing is retained even today.
